


Rider's High

by rankarana



Category: THE iDOLM@STER, The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls
Genre: F/F, also a bunch of other ship implications natch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 01:11:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11544321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rankarana/pseuds/rankarana
Summary: Natsuki and Takumi have had a long, storied, intense friendship, filled with equal parts respect, trust and deep-set loathing.They probably could have done without the 'waking up next to each other naked in the same bed with splitting hangovers' part of that friendship, though.





	Rider's High

There’s always something uncomfortable about waking up after sex  in a place you don’t quite know, but it might be even worse when you recognise where you are. And also realise you’re naked. And that the owner of the room you’re currently in is next to you, in bed, and also naked.

Natsuki immediately realises through the thick haze of her hangover that she has completely fucked this one up.

“Takumi…?” she mumbles out, waiting to see if Takumi responds. She doesn’t, which means she’s either still asleep, or pretending to be asleep because she woke up first and she’s not going to be the one sorting out this mess.

Fair enough, but if she is doing that, _fuck her_. The bed’s up against the wall, so Natsuki could reach up and try to fumble with the blinds to send the sun right into Takumi’s sleeping eyes, but she also doesn’t want to accidentally actually _open_ them. God, that’d be embarrassing.

…nearly as embarrassing as realising Takumi’s not lying to her side, but behind her, and she’s woken up facing the wall, so—

“No way am I the fucking little spoon.” Takumi seems to react to her grumbling, rolling around in the bed – she lurches towards Natsuki a little, which makes her  scramble in return, about to turn to face Takumi so she would not be the ‘fucking little spoon’ [sic], and then realising that waking up face to face with Takumi would be even worse. At least Takumi pulls back after a few moments, and Nat sighs in deep, _deep_ relief.

Change of plans; Natsuki decides to leave the bed by pressing her thin body up against the wall, gently sliding the covers off herself and shimmying off the foot of the bed. She’s embarrassed enough in the minute she’s been awake she doesn’t even feel _that_ dumb doing this. Carefully moving, making sure that Takumi’s cheap hand-me-down mattress doesn’t start squeaking under her – yeah, she remembers how loud and uncomfortable it was last night – she removes herself from Takumi’s side and stands up.

…okay, she’s out of the bed. Now what? Her clothes are scattered around in a way that looks like either her, Takumi or both of them were pretty much throwing them around the place, and from the looks of it, her bra is inside Takumi’s boxers. How does that even happen? It might be kind of strong to call Takumi’s room a dump, but it also totally is. Sure, like her place, there’s a bunch of scattered around beer cans and clothes dumped on the floor, but while she’s got a stack of records, guitar stands, and a small recording setup, Takumi has weights and the distinctive smell of post-workout sweaty musk, and—

Yeah, it, uhm, sure smells of Takumi. Mm.

…regardless, Natsuki makes her way to her underwear, grabbing her panties off the floor, and freezing up when she hears a _buzz_ , something behind her creaking—oh, it’s her phone.

12:10PM. Damn, it might be a terrible mattress, but she actually slept kind of well. The phone buzzes again, the screen lighting up as Natsuki peers over at it, showing a couple of messages from Ryo – _‘i don’t know if you knew but you left your wallet in my bag last night’ ‘i’m around your place rn so i can come over and give it to you now??’_. Pretty thoughtful of her, but she wouldn’t exactly be in, so… ugh. Crap, she’d have to borrow money from Takumi to get home at this rate.

She continues to slowly travel around the room, picking up her own clothes, until she treads on a pair of Takumi’s jorts on top of a particularly creaky floorboard. This is the last straw, the noise that finally wakes up a dozing Takumi and causes her to lift her head with slow, uncomprehending horror, and finally, her and Natsuki’s eyes meet.

It’s like a standoff at high noon, and neither of them say anything, wondering who’s going to be the first to crack under the pressure. Natsuki, still mostly naked, at least gets to watch Takumi slowly going through all the stages of grief, though she seems to have an issue arriving at ‘acceptance’. The stillness carries on for a good minute, it feels like, Takumi bringing her hand and dragging it over her face completely silently. In the end, she finally flings her head back onto the pillow, and lets out a sound that Natsuki thinks sounds like a dying, pained dog.

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

The silence continues for a little longer as Takumi stares at the ceiling and Natsuki returns to finding her clothes, completing the set at last and putting them down on the table.

“Hey, Nat, get me a glass of water.”

“Excuse you?”

“Least you could do to make it up to me for letting this happen.”

“Letting it happen? Like you weren’t the one who pinned me down.”

“…oh my god, I was…” With another loud groan, it seemed to Natsuki that Takumi was starting to remember _everything_ , that sudden downpour of realisation that hits you like a train. They’d been out for yakiniku with the rest of the gang last night, pretty standard, but either they’d gotten just a little too drunk, Ryo talking about Kanade’s ass had gotten to them, or this was something that was always going to happen anyway and what was the point of pretending it wasn’t—but still, they’d gone back to Takumi’s apartment, had a couple more beers, and then—

Natsuki thinks she remembers hearing someone knocking on the walls and replying with a loud “ _Haha, fuck off_!”, and she’s thankful she doesn’t live here and so won’t one day have to face the consequences. Whatever they did, they definitely _did_ it.

“Okay, well, cool. We don’t tell anyone about this, _ever_ , yeah?”

“Sure, fine by me.” Nat shrugs in response, but it’s all a power play – if Takumi hadn’t commanded they took this secret to the grave, she’d have been begging her about that right back. “Things like this happen. It’s rock.”

“It’s some dumbass shit is what it is, but fine. Ugh. Anyway, water.”

“Come and get it, if you want it,” Natsuki tells her, and then realises that she just said something _that_ embarrassing while topless and staring at Takumi. Time to smack her head into the nearest hard object (and put on her bra, at least, while she’s at it).

“I’ve got a hangover. Head hurts.”

“Yeah, so do I. I still got out of bed.”

“Aww. Didn’t wanna get caught being the lil’ spoon?” snorts Takumi, and Natsuki doesn’t even bother replying before stomping over to the sink and filling up a glass for Takumi. Maybe she’ll pour it over her head instead.

“Besides, you’re bigger than me, and you don’t drink any more than I do. You should be less hung over.”

“Nah, see, because I’m bigger, the booze stays in my system more? You’re tiny so it goes through you faster. ‘s just how it works.”

“…is it?”

“Yeah.” Takumi sounds pretty sure, but Nat doesn’t know whether to laugh at her or doubt her own knowledge of how alcohol works.

“I’m not that small. I’m like, average height.”

“We’ve been through this, Nat. You’re a tiny womanlet baby. Gnatsuki.”

“…you want this water to drink or poured over your head?”

“…sorry.” It’s the least genuine, most half-hearted ‘please don’t get me wet nat, no not like that you know what i mean’ thing Natsuki has ever heard, but fine, whatever. She can deal, Takumi can have her water. Natsuki places the drink on the table by Takumi’s bed, and walks back to the counter to get herself one too. She’s not sure if the other woman is staring at her ass, and isn’t sure if she wants to know the answer either. The two of them keep to themselves, because while there’s a lot of things Natsuki wants to ask (and she’s pretty sure Takumi’s the same way), actually _asking_ any of them would make them have to think and acknowledge last night.

So instead Natsuki looks in the mirror and tries to fix on her hair, which is in that painful in-between state where it’s still gelled up but has started to flop down. Or, more accurately, Takumi _pushed_ it down last night, hands grasping at ‘the dumb chicken hair’ as Natsuki ate like it was her last night alive, but anyway—it’s a mess, and she needs her comb, and she never leaves the house without it, so it should be in her pocket. Unless she left that in Ryo’s bag, too.

If she’s going to beg for money to get back, now’s the best time, probably.

“Hey, I think I left my wallet with Ryo, so could you spot me the fare home? I’ll buy you a drink later.”

“Uhhh, sure. Is my wallet in my shorts?”

Squatting down, Nat grabs at the jorts that tricked her earlier and fumbles with them. She doesn’t find anything much.

“Nope.”

“...might’ve left mine with Ryo, too.”

“Dumbass.”

“Oh, like you can freakin’ speak,” Takumi groans, leading into another painful headache-induced dead-animal-noise. “There’s some coins around the room. Find them and you keep ‘em, whatever.”

As if the day couldn’t get any more humiliating, Natsuki kneels down and starts looking for coins to get home, and have a way to actually _leave_. Would it be better if she was fully dressed? Marginally, maybe, but not by much. She’s gathered around 300 yen by the time the phone on the table buzzes again, another message from Ryo – ‘ _i’m here, are you in?_ ’

And then, a couple seconds later, there’s a knock at the door.

“…is it the neighbours? If it’s the neighbours, don’t let them know we’re here,” Takumi… whispers at her? It’s more like a shout, except it’s really quiet. A whisper-shout. In any case, Natsuki crawls over to the door, slides to her feet, lifts up the flap of the peephole and looks through.

“Takumi? Are you in?”

Natsuki turns back to Takumi with deep, utter confusion, a look both of them share. Takumi mouths _Ryo_? to her, to which Natsuki nods.

“She just sent me a text that she was coming to my place!”

“Doesn’t look like it!”

“No, look—“ Natsuki grabs the phone, earning a loud, not really whispered, ‘huhhhh?’ from Takumi.

“That’s my phone!”

“…See, I’m still drunk! Or hung over! Because I’m—I mean, you’re just like, unnaturally huge!” Mentally correcting herself and rushing over to the table, Natsuki almost jumps into her leather pants, sticking her head through the arm of her tank top before arranging it correctly again—oh, hey, her wallet and comb were in her pant pockets. She had them all along!

“Yeah, see, your phone’s here—hey, you’ve got like, 20 unread messages?”

“Yeah?”

“…were you gonna meet up with Rii? Because at least 10 of these are her askin’ where you are like some kind of lost puppy. Oh, hey, she called you a jerk, too—“

…in the heat of, well, pretty much everything, Natsuki kind of forgot her and Riina’s… date-thing. Whatever. The thing they were doing today where they’d get lunch and walk around and-- nothing major, but she was meant to be there at noon. The phone in her hand said at least 12:20, minimum.

“…shit.”

“Huh? Natsuki, are you there too?” Were they that loud? Well, apparently, yeah.

“Uh…” Takumi shrugs at her this time, and Nat gives her the middle finger. “Yeah. I am.”

“Cool. Mind opening up?”

“Just a second!!” Natsuki actually shouts this time, more or less dressed, and grabs the door handle, about to yank it open—

“No, Natsuki, don’t you fucking open--” It’s too little too late on Takumi’s part, as the door opens to reveal Ryo, who looks at Natsuki’s hair, peers into the room, raises an eyebrow, and says nothing more.

…which is probably worse.

“So, you, uh, got Takumi’s wallet?”

“Sure. Are you on your way out?”

“…anything you wanna say, Ryo?” Natsuki places a hand on her shoulder, and tries to look as intimidating as she can with the height difference and her own collapsed hair. From gauging Ryo’s reaction, she’s guessing it’s not working too well.

“A lot, but I thought I’d save you guys the effort of explaining yourselves.” This earns a glare from Takumi too, but Ryo remains completely unfazed by the two of them. ‘The unfounded confidence of someone who’s got nothing to lose’ is how Ryo describes her mental state, but Natsuki just thinks Ryo’s kind of an asshole when she wants to be.

“Look—“ Natsuki looks up and down the path outside the apartment and closes the door a little, shutting Takumi out of the conversation a bit. “Don’t tell anyone about this. Seriously, I’m not kidding.”

“Don’t worry, this is funnier if I stay the only other person in the group who knows about it,” Ryo says, and there’s that little smile afterwards that tells Natsuki that yeah, she is trustworthy. For better or worse. “…seriously, though, how drunk were you?”

“Drunker than when we used to do it.”

“Aww. I wasn’t looking for a compliment, though. I’m curious, what with Riina—“

“Shh. C’mon, Ryo, let’s have this conversation another time.”

“I just think… Ah, whatever. Another time, sure. Hey.” She slams her hand up against the door, pushing it open a little wider so she can stick her head in – Natsuki would push back (she’s stronger than Ryo, honest, really!) but the sudden force takes her by surprise. “Takumi, how loud was she?”

Takumi continues the death stare until Natsuki looks back too, and suddenly that glare turns into a smile, and Natsuki realises she’s in a two-on-one situation. _Fuck_.

“Real loud. Woke the freakin’ dead.” Natsuki wants to join said dead in not-being-alive-any-more, but no matter where she turns, she sees at best one of her friends smiling at the idea of mentally torturing her, and at worst she can see how godawful her hair looks in the mirror.

“Right?”

“Go. Bye. Shoo.” If Ryo doesn’t move her hand out of the doorframe, Natsuki will happily slam it on her; but at least Ryo seems to actually get the message.

“See you two later.”

Ryo leaves with a wave over her shoulder, the door quickly shut by Natsuki behind her, who is more or less breaking out in a sweat. She storms over to the bed still containing the naked Takumi, and grabs her phone out of Takumi’s hand. It’s weird, but Ryo seeing them kind of almost defused the situation, in a way.

“She’s sent you a couple more texts.”

“I’m so late… god, this sucks. I suck.” She’s got her keys, her wallet and her comb, she can go. She’s even got a sort-of excuse.

“Where you meeting her?”

“Ueno.”

“That’s like 20 minutes from here, max. You’re good.” Takumi manages to finally get up, and Nat tries not to look, but it’s hard _not_ to. Her body looks so strong, and Natsuki can almost see how Takumi’s vaguely cool when she pulls at her head to crack her neck a little, head resting on one powerful bicep. Takumi doesn’t even bother making fun of her, but maybe that’s because she knows Natsuki’s just roasting herself with her internal monologue at this point.

“No, I’m not. I mean, I’ve got a reason, but—“

“Seriously? You’re going to tell her about this?”

“No! Not this! Just that you and me went drinking last night and I crashed the night at yours, that’s all.”

“Kinda dodgy, when you put it like that.”

“I dunno, I’ll tell her couch-surfing at your friend’s place after she just threw up by the side of the road is rock. It kind of is.” They share an appreciative look. Definitely rock.

“Sure. Even tho’ I dunno how I feel about you just walkin’ out on me like this for another woman,” Takumi laughs, and Nat takes the excuse of being mildly embarrassed to look away and not look at Takumi’s tits.

“…what, you want to come along too?” It comes off as a joke, but for a second Natsuki’s scared she sounds vaguely sincere.

“Kinda, uh, third-wheelin’ if I do.”

\--okay, one more look at the boobs.

“…yeah, no kidding. Anyway, I’ll… go? Yeah. See you around.”

“Treating me like some freakin’ groupie.”

“We’ve been through this, I did not sleep with—okay. Bye. See you tomorrow!” One last check in the mirror – fuck it, she’ll fix her hair on the train – and Nat is finally ready to go, with one last nod in Takumi’s general direction.

“Don’t tell anyone or I’ll beat you up!” Takumi sounds very, very serious about that offer.

“Right back at you!” Natsuki grabs her jacket and slams the door behind her, breaking into something halfway to a run as she gets to the station, furiously sending an apology and 20 different dogeza stickers over LINE to Riina.

* * *

Lunch is on her today, she guesses, taking a seat in the mid-day train, turning the phone camera to selfie mode and busting out the comb to fix her hair into something not totally terrible - which is hard, because Takumi managed to completely pull it in the wrong direction, press down the quiff, and then frizz it up - when she sees something else from last night. A mark. Several dark marks, all down her collar, and she suddenly remembers that Takumi is a _biter_.

…zipping up her jacket, Natsuki Kimura leans back and looks at the roof of the train carriage.

She’ll never tell Riina this to her face, but it turns out there might be such a thing as being _too_ rock, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday lili!! i hope it was filled with butches, milkies, and not being the Number 1 ManaSakiP worldwide.
> 
> anyway you suggested this prompt like. months ago, and while i found it too awkward to write actual smut for a birthday fic this was absolutely in my wheelhouse. it feels bad that there's still no English darinatsu fics and then i plop this one out, but, there you go. also there's potential setup for future stuff bc we are both terrible trash shippers! ahahaha. god this is the most self-indulgent thing ive ever written.
> 
> also yeah i know this is like, at least 30% similar to that one uminico fic i wrote but this one is better because its takunatsu, i.e. the feast of gods


End file.
